


He did what?

by Alexanda (Doire)



Category: Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 08:30:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1641563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doire/pseuds/Alexanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Are subversives born or made? Official biographies probably don't have the answer. PS Authentic Luna dialect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He did what?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to vomit_bunny who read this through despite her feelings about Heinlein.
> 
> Written for ideal_girl

 

 

A ground swell started almost immediately. Clandestine at first - mutterings here and there - but gathering momentum until it was irresistible. Folk that had done nothing needed to be part of revolution. Word was that President couldn't be dead. Almost expected there to be tales of miracles. Thank Bog, Adam had been conserved according to custom, Prof was too, or there would have been sightings. As was, stories ran wild. And each telling added layers of speculation.

No way to stem riotous chatter. Could be swayed to past rather than now. Yammerers were calling for Prof's biography. They wanted to remember him. They needed to remember him, consumed by need for new facts - never mind source.

Stu reckoned only solution was official biography. I nixed that. Prof shouldn't be pinned out like a trophy for all to gawk at. I gave in. Never was good at strategy.

Prof had been on Luna for more than fifty years. Was an exile not convict; records should be scarce. Loonies are a private people: personal records are personal.

Bog help us. Everyone and his sobaka had a tale to tell. Prof had been a bachelor all his life but long lost women and children told their stories. Prof had taught so many and met more, had brought up more scholars to continue his ideas than if he had had a blood family. Were many with anecdotes based in fact. Set the wannabe bureaucrats to sort tales and record them. Two problems solved. I may be learning statecraft.

Was one categorical record on Luna. Bernardo de La Paz was summarily shipped to Luna. He kept his eccentric citizenship. No reasons given, no sentence laid down meant a troublemaker who would make more if officially exiled. Any rank he held was left behind with rest of his life.

Expected opposite problem down on Earth. Should be so simple. Down there, you can't move (literally for a loonie) without official permission forms in triplicate and yet there was little trace. Looks as though more red tape and papers means more holes there are to hide in. Stu just laughed at me; seems it was ever so. When permits are needed to travel, if you have a permit, everyone knows you are allowed to travel. Permits says you came from Iceland; you came from Iceland despite that island's insularity.

I want to remember: want my children to remember, so Manuel Garcia O'Kelly Davis requested information and Stu whispered in some Earthside ears. And reports flooded back.

Seems Prof must have been more than one person: born at least three times, once after he was transported. So many there, so many here. Alles gut.

Earth records must be wrong. There were too many in some times and none in others. Can't all be right. Then learned some literary theory from Stu. Seems old time Europe had a hero, Robin Hood. Might have once lived, might have had his story. Each time his story was told it grew as incidents were added. Anytime a story was told, teller used the name his hearers knew to add credence. Tales wandered Earth, changing to suit times hiding, a seed of truth.

I tried to get others to help pick those most likely but were no takers. Told me that I knew Prof best. Bog! I think know where Prof was raised. Mike could have computed the odds; Mike would have pulled the substance from the trash. All I have is a gut feeling that will have to do.

* * *

[Extract from Report #184/78]

It seems probable that Bernado de la Paz grew up in Cuba . There is no record of his birth, but school records show a boy of that name enrolled in the 1990s. We conjecture that, since this child's parents also have no records before then, that they were recent immigrants; perhaps idealist fleeing to the last socialist experiment as communism faltered in Europe. Health records put birth around 1992 / 3 which seems earlier than the school records would indicate. Language difficulties, consistent with immigration, could explain this

The boy was a good scholar, outstanding, if uncooperative, in academic subjects and diligent in the practical arts. He became a leader in the school cadets. Academic records stop abruptly before graduation contemporary with police records indicating misdemeanours and protest associated with international relations. Most of these are ill defined, but include disaffection with the changes in Cuban economy after Raúl's death. Most notable are the acknowledgement of the practical annexation by Florida and the subsequent rise in corporate control of production and commerce. There is no record of a concern for environmental issues; a notable point for that time.

The next significant record is of a student of art and architecture in Placetas. Bernado Paz appears to have been interested in monumental architecture He was involved in legitimate protests against redevelopment in the city. Again, there is no record of graduation.

There are scattered records of a de la Paz for the next few years, but no continuous trail is available.

We are certain that a Bernado de la Paz existed. There is no way to know if this man became the exile on Luna or if he inspired another who took a pseudonym. However, those facts that are known are consonant with the man who was known as Professor de la Paz on Luna.

* * *

Many mentions of de la Paz in time of warring states in US. States ignored federal rule and pulled power to themselves. Too many, too tangled to pick out genuine mentions. Prof himself or his influence inspired the disenfranchised to survive and gave tools to do so. (I would like to have seen Prof making bombs.) Survive they did until urban renewal programmes rebuilt US.

Did Prof see ships taking his people away in age old solution? I think he might have done. Did he fear or hope to join them?

Name was not right but reports felt like Prof.

* * *

[Extract from Report #3974/08]

We find in Ireland reports of a Bernard Pax, initially suspected of money laundering. Pax appeared to bet regularly but unsuccessfully. He featured heavily in the local tabloids in company with socialites and race goers, though he was never coupled with any particular companion. He successfully sued for libel after a suggestion that his stake was the fruit of a bank robbery. Ironically, the settlement funded further track investments.

Despite an apparently frivolous lifestyle Pax met with the current workers for the "long peace" and wrote about its earliest aspirations.

We enclose sample images of Bernard Pax taken from publications.

* * *

Traces of Prof in Europe, in Hong Kong, in Nepal reported back to me - though never in India. Times are wrong for them all to be possible. Then on to west coast of US. Guess that's where he picked up vegetarianism; in New California showing its independence by returning to anarchism, free love and tree love.

Last report from Earth is definitely Prof.

* * *

[Extract (translation) from Police record 12-03-2020 #566]

"Male, apprehended in Torre Tagle Palace following a routine alert that a name on the watch list had been given in a request to visit the interior of the house. Subject gave no resistance, remarking that 'Beauty takes precedence'. Subject to be removed."

* * *

Glad I knew him.

 

 

 


End file.
